Systems and methods for performance monitoring and identifying upgrades for wind turbines

Abstract

A method for indicating a performance of a wind turbine is provided. Target performance data are created based at least in part on performance data for one or more wind turbines of interest. Baseline performance data are calculated based at least in part on performance data for a plurality of other wind turbines. The target performance data are compared to the baseline performance data to create a relative performance profile. In addition, a graphical representation of the relative performance profile may be created, and an available upgrade for the wind turbines of interest may be evaluated based at least in part on performance data for one or more wind turbines including the available upgrade.

1. A system for indicating a performance of a wind turbine, the system comprising:
 a database system for storing performance data for a plurality of known wind turbines; and, 
 a hardware server system coupled to the database system, the server system configured to:
 acquire, from the database system, performance data corresponding to one or more target wind turbines to create target performance data, the target wind turbines including a subset of the known wind turbines; 
 acquire, from the database system, performance data corresponding to one or more baseline wind turbines to create baseline performance data, the baseline wind turbines including a subset of the known wind turbines not included in the target wind turbines; and, 
 provide, to a client system, a relative performance profile relating the target performance data to the baseline performance data. 
 
 
     
     
       2. A system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further configured to:
 for a first target wind turbine of the target wind turbines, identify an available upgrade not included in the first target wind turbine; 
 compare target performance data corresponding to the first target wind turbine to baseline performance data corresponding to a known wind turbine including the available upgrade to determine a predicted performance improvement; and, 
 provide the predicted performance improvement to the client system. 
 
     
     
       3. A system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further configured to:
 receive recent performance data corresponding to a first known wind turbine of the plurality of known wind turbines; and, 
 store the recent performance data in the database system, 
 wherein the baseline performance data include the recent performance data. 
 
     
     
       4. A system in accordance with  claim 3 , wherein the server system is further configured to repeatedly receive and store recent performance data corresponding to the first known wind turbine. 
     
     
       5. A system in accordance with  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a site server computer device configured to receive site performance data for a plurality of known wind turbines at a wind turbine site, 
 wherein the server system is further configured to:
 receive the site performance data from the site server computer device; and, 
 store the site performance data in the database system, 
 
 wherein the target performance data or the baseline performance data include the site performance data. 
 
     
     
       6. A system in accordance with  claim 5 , wherein the site performance data are first site performance data for a first wind turbine site, and the server system is further configured to:
 receive second site performance data for a second wind turbine site; and 
 compare the first site performance data to the second site performance data to create the relative performance profile. 
 
     
     
       7. A system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further configured to define the baseline wind turbines by identifying known wind turbines having at least one attribute that is substantially similar to an attribute of the target wind turbines, the at least one attribute comprising at least one of the following: a geographic attribute and an environmental attribute. 
     
     
       8. A system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the performance data include fault occurrence data, and the server system is further configured to compare target fault occurrence data from the target performance data to baseline fault occurrence data from the baseline performance data to create the relative performance profile. 
     
     
       9. A system in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the server system is further configured to provide the relative performance profile to the client system by providing a graphical representation of the relative performance profile. 
     
     
       10. A system in accordance with  claim 9 , further comprising the client system, wherein the client system is configured to display the graphical representation of the relative performance profile using a presentation device. 
     
     
       11. A method for indicating a performance of a wind turbine, the method comprising:
 providing a database system for storing performance data for a plurality of known wind turbines; and 
 providing a hardware server system coupled to the database system, the server system configured to:
 acquire performance data for one or more target wind turbines to create target performance data; 
 calculate, by a processor, baseline performance data based at least in part on performance data for a plurality of baseline wind turbines; 
 compare, by the processor, the target performance data to the baseline performance data to create a relative performance profile; and, 
 create a graphical representation of the relative performance profile for display by a user computer device. 
 
 
     
     
       12. A method in accordance with  claim 11 , wherein the hardware server system is further configured to define the baseline wind turbines by identifying known wind turbines having at least one attribute that is substantially similar to an attribute of the target wind turbines, the at least one attribute comprising at least one of the following: a dimensional attribute, an electrical output attribute, a geographic attribute, and an environmental attribute. 
     
     
       13. A method in accordance with  claim 11 , wherein the hardware server system is further configured to define the baseline wind turbines by identifying known wind turbines associated with a wind condition similar to a wind condition associated with the target wind turbines. 
     
     
       14. A method in accordance with  claim 11 , wherein the hardware server system is further configured to:
   identify an available upgrade for a first target wind turbine of the target wind turbines, the first wind turbine not including the available upgrade;   compare target performance data for the first target wind turbine to performance data for at least one known wind turbine including the available upgrade to determine a predicted performance improvement for the available upgrade; and   provide the predicted performance improvement to the user computer device.   
 
     
     
       15. A method in accordance with  claim 11 , wherein the target wind turbines are operated by a first operator, and at least one baseline wind turbine is operated by a second operator, the method further comprising providing the relative performance profile to a user computer device associated with the first operator. 
     
     
       16. A method in accordance with  claim 11 , wherein acquiring target performance data comprises acquiring performance data for a plurality of known wind turbines within a wind turbine site, and creating a relative performance profile comprises creating a relative performance profile for the wind turbine site. 
     
     
       17. A method in accordance with  claim 16 , wherein the wind turbine site is a first wind turbine site, the method further comprising calculating the baseline performance data based at least in part on performance data for a plurality of baseline wind turbines within a second wind turbine site. 
     
     
       18. A method in accordance with  claim 11 , wherein calculating the baseline performance data comprises calculating an average performance metric including at least one of the following: an average fault occurrence rate, an average availability rate, and an average electrical output. 
     
     
       19. A method in accordance with  claim 18 , wherein the hardware server system is further configured to:
   calculate a target performance metric based at least in part on the target performance data, the target performance metric including at least one of the following: a fault occurrence rate, an availability rate, and an electrical output;   compare the target performance metric to the average performance metric to create the relative performance profile; and,   create a graphical representation of the relative performance profile by creating a graphical representation of the target performance metric relative to the average performance metric.   
 
     
     
       20. A system for indicating a predicted performance improvement for an upgrade to a wind turbine, the system comprising:
 a database system for storing performance data for a plurality of known wind turbines; and, 
 a hardware server system coupled to the database system, the server system configured to:
 provide, to a client system, a relative performance profile relating performance data for a target wind turbine to performance data for one or more baseline wind turbines; 
 identify an available upgrade not included in the target wind turbine; 
 compare the performance data corresponding to the target wind turbine to performance data corresponding to one or more known wind turbines including the available upgrade to determine a predicted performance improvement; and, 
 provide the predicted performance improvement to the client system.